Our Take

Carley Fortune has built her career on summer-set, slow-burn romances — Every Summer After and One Golden Summer among her biggest hits — and Our Perfect Storm leans into everything that's made her a #1 New York Times bestseller. The friends-to-lovers setup isn't new territory for the genre, but Fortune's specialty is in the emotional groundwork: Frankie and George's decades-long friendship gives their tension real history, so when the honeymoon-gone-wrong premise kicks in, it doesn't feel like a gimmick, it feels earned. The Tofino setting does a lot of work here too, giving the book a lush, atmospheric backdrop that mirrors the emotional weather Frankie is trying to outrun. Fortune is skilled at balancing genuine heartbreak with romantic tension without letting either one overwhelm the other, and readers who loved the will-they-won't-they pacing of her earlier novels will find that same slow, satisfying build here. This is a strong pick for readers who want their romance emotionally messy, deeply felt, and grounded in a friendship worth rooting for.